How much sleep do you really need, and what happens when you don’t get enough?

Every March, we are all faced with the arrival of Daylight Saving Time and its impact on our circadian rhythms, our sleep-wake pattern. The 1-hour shift in time can even temporarily disrupt our ability to fall asleep at night and to wake up in the morning. We not only lose an hour of sleep, but the time change disrupts the body’s biological clock and circadian rhythm. The effect is the same as jetlag in plane travel, in which our bodies remain on the prior schedule for a period of time.